The results of this year's Gallup pollof Americans' views of various industries shouldn't surprise anyone, at least with regard to people's opinions of lawyers. Only 29 percent had a favorable view of lawyers, placing the legal field 20th out of 25 industries surveyed. Lawyers have had the same low approval rating fairly consistently over the ten years of the survey's existence.

A new book published by the Brookings Institution is calling for massive deregulation of the legal system. The book, First Thing We Do, Let's Deregulate All the Lawyers, uses statistical analysis to prove that the cost of legal services is made artificially high by monopolistic practices. These practices include restrictions on who may practice law (and the broad definition of the practice of law), unnecessary restrictions on the number of graduates from accredited law schools, and a legal system that is often impossible to navigate without professional help.​

In an ongoing battle over whether LegalZoom is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Missouri, a federal district court has rejecteda motion by LegalZoom to declare that it is not engaged in UPL. This means that it will be up to a jury to decide whether consumers in Missouri will have access to LegalZoom's services.